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Tim lived on both the east and west coasts before his family settled in Savannah, GA. After completing a BA in Music at Armstrong Atlantic University in 2005, the piano took him to the Debrecen Conservatory in Hungary. Since then he's held a number of different jobs, including working on a dude ranch and managing a whitewater outpost. Tim enjoys the New Yorker magazine, Coldplay, baseball, reading all kinds of books, international travel and anything outside. He lives in Columbia, SC.

Plastic Beach

I have to admit, I still don’t entirely understand the band Gorillaz. But who couldn’t love a virtual band with contributors like Snoop Dog, Bobby Womack, Mos Def and the Lebanese National Orchestra as part of their latest release. Damon Albarn’s (the only permanent musician in the ‘band’) latest project, Plastic Beach, sounds like an immediate classic. I only listened to the album (released March 9th 2010) after friends from both sides of the ocean Twit-raved about the a couple of the new tracks (this might legitimize and condemn Twitter in the same stroke). Start with the track Stylo, then On Melancholy Hill.

Call it pop, alternative or electronic. A band filled with fanciful members shouldn’t be limited to one genre anyway. Plastic Beach may not be as musically progressive as the Gorillaz last release, Demon Days, but the pop hooks, shiny effects and Eastern lines and harmonies may just end up being contagious.

Give it a listen. On Grooveshark. (Why not listen to a virtual band I don’t entirely grasp through a virtual music platform I don’t entirely grasp — careful, this post may have a developing theme)